Blue Scorpion Venom: Cuba's Miracle Drug

Noah Friedman-Rudovsky Vidatox on sale in an international pharmacy in Havana, Cuba. Foreigners from across the world come to Cuba to buy these containers for $210 each. Cubans can get the same medicine packaged differently for free with a prescription.
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Noah Friedman-Rudovsky Dr. Jose Antonio Fraga is director of Labiofam, one of Cuba's state-run pharmaceutical companies. Labiofam produces 98 percent of Cuba's veterinary products but has become more well-known for Vidatox, a cancer treatment made from scorpion venom.
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Noah Friedman-Rudovsky Leandro Gonzales, 6, is given a check-up by Dr. Niudis Cruz, who visits his home to monitor his recovery from cancer.
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Noah Friedman-Rudovsky Leandro has an inoperable brain tumor which carries an 80 percent mortality rate within one year. But doctors say that they have managed to reduce the size of the tumor with a treatment consisting only of Vidatox, made from scorpion venom.
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Noah Friedman-Rudovsky Yarislenis Abreu, 15, says she was a vegetable 5 years ago due to a brain tumor that had caused half her body to become paralyzed. After radiation treatment failed, her doctors sent her home ostensibly to die.
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Noah Friedman-Rudovsky Yarislenis' parents found a cancer treatment made from scorpion venom and administered it to her, and within a month she was walking and writing. She and doctors credit the medicine with reducing the size of the tumors.
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Noah Friedman-Rudovsky The home and clinic of Jose Felipe Monzón who is credited with popularizing the use of scorpion venom as cancer treatment in Cuba.
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Noah Friedman-Rudovsky When his daughter fell ill as a child, Monzón sought out the experimental treatment being made by Professor Bordier, and managed to save her life. He now attends patients and sells an unregulated and stronger form of the medicine from his home.
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Noah Friedman-Rudovsky The blue scorpion, rhopalurus junceus (which is actually not the color blue, but rather a beige mauve), is one of dozens of types scorpions, but that only one used for medicinal purposes such as cancer treatment. It is native to Cuba and is usually found in dry areas hiding under rocks in the morning or evening when the sun is not so strong.
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Noah Friedman-Rudovsky Jose Perera is a scorpion hunter employed by Cuba's state biotech company, Labiofam, to capture scorpions in the wild to use their venom in cancer treatment. Perera has been a hunter for five years, but the job has taken on added meaning now that his father has cancer. He says that his father is more animated and has more energy now that he is taking Vidatox, made from the venom of the scorpions he captures.
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Noah Friedman-Rudovsky Jose Perera catches a wild blue scorpion with a pair of tongs in the Santa Clara Valley in Cuba. He says he has been stung 13 times during the 5 years he has worked as a scorpion hunter.
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Noah Friedman-Rudovsky Jose Perera
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Noah Friedman-Rudovsky Scorpions, whose venom will be used to make Vidatox, are stored by the thousands at a Labiofam facility in Santa Clara, Cuba. The scorpions will be used to extract their venom for about two years before being released back into the wild.
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Noah Friedman-Rudovsky Veterinarians in charge of the scorpionario at the Labiofam facility in Santa Clara, Cuba, where thousands of scorpions are housed.
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Noah Friedman-Rudovsky A doctor applies a mild electrical shock to a scorpion in order to extract its venom for use as a cancer treatment at the Labiofam facility in Santa Clara, Cuba. The venom is poisonous if bitten by a scorpion, but non-toxic and not dangerous when diluted and taken orally as a homeopathic medicine.
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Noah Friedman-Rudovsky The bulletin board at the Labiofam scorpionario in Santa Clara, Cuba, is a testament to the politicized and proud nature of Cuba's medical and biotechnology fields, mixing revolutionary quotes and heroes with advertisements for Vidatox, the cancer treatment made from scorpion venom.
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Blue Scorpion Venom: Cuba's Miracle Drug

For more than 20 years, Cubans have been treating cancer patients with blue scorpion venom. Thousands attest to pain relief, increased muscle strength, and renewed energy while on the medicine. The treatment is now poised for a global premiere. Cuba's state pharmaceutical company, Labiofam, recently began mass-producing a homeopathic version called Vidatox.

For more than 20 years, Cubans have been treating cancer patients with blue scorpion venom. Thousands attest to pain relief, increased muscle strength, and renewed energy while on the medicine. The treatment is now poised for a global premiere. Cuba's state pharmaceutical company, Labiofam, recently began mass-producing a homeopathic version called Vidatox.